My short answer: A uni degree is more than just a piece of paper, its a statement that you were determined and dedicated enought to finish what you'd started. I dropped out in 3rd of 4 years and even though it hasn't affected me yet, I worry that I'll be wishing I had finished it when I apply for higher paid positions in future.
My long answer: If you have 3 hours free to read my rant below you might make some sense of it. After reading it myself I'm thinking that I just really needed to VENT! RANT ALERT! I don't think anyone would argue that you'll get a better 'education' working in the real world, compared to learning in University. Well, maybe some would argue? When I was still Uni about 5 years ago they were just starting to create courses that catered for the emergence ecommerce. The course I was already in was a CS/Multimedia degree with little to no real web stuff at all. We did do some flash and shockwave stuff but I was more interested in data driven applications. I was already playing around designing websites and basic database driven PHP applications and I was pretty sure that I was never going to be taught about Apache, PHP, HTML or advanced CSS at uni. So far (in 3rd year) we'd spent about 2 weeks on web site development, and that involved building a basic page in Netscape Composer of all things! That said, i think the CS subjects gave me invaluable knowledge about the basics of programming and I'd probably be a much worse coder than I am if not for that basic training. It just got to a point where I wanted to go in a direction that uni just wasn't gonna cater for... Like many of my friends I got a part-time IT job to compliment my full-time uni. After about 3 months into 2nd year it swapped to full-time IT job (VB Programmer, YUCK) and part-time uni. So 5 years later and I've got a year of full-time study left to finish the degree, but I definitely think that real-world IT experience is of greater value to employers. I've now got about 7 years of experience plus a 66% completed CS degree and plenty of respect from my peers. A lot of my uni friends who opted to stick out uni and get the degree are still looking for a good IT job (tech support for an ISP is not what I would consider a positive outcome after 4 years of uni). That said, I think its a different decision for everyone. I think the thing I have going for me in the real-world of IT is that I didn't just do a CS degree coz I couldn't decide what to do. I did it coz I was a fricken website making, game-playing, warez leeching, IRC chatting NERD and I thought i'd need a degree to get my foot in the door. Turns out that my enthusiasm was my most powerful weapon! I continue to keep up with all the latest internet technologies in my own personal time because that's what I love. I'm probably nothing compared to some of the guys on this list who are constantly pushing the boundaries and trying to invent a better wheel. Basically I think if you love the internet and everything IT in general then ppl will notice. You'll also be 'studying' on a daily basis, however for you it will be disguised as FUN! Geez, I don't even know if I made a point here but perhaps something I said will help you with your decision. Just get a job in IT first and see if you cut it... Probably a little more than my $0.02... I'm now very interested to see other members replies! Mt. > -----Original Message----- > From: Gabriel Vasquez [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 4:09 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [WSG] Is a degree necessary? > > > Hi Everyone, I apologize if this is off topic but this is one > of the few > places that I would be able to talk to web designers and get > their opinions > on this. > > I've been attending school to get an Associates degree in > Digital Media. The > program is 18 months and ranges from html to 3d graphics. I'm > already more > than halfway through my courses, but I find that I hit a road > block; I'm not > really learning anything. We are just now getting into > *basic* css, and > javascript in dreamweaver (which I already know how to do, > even though I > prefer to hand-code). The program is now focusing on 3D > animation but that's > really not what I'm into at all. I just want to do web > design: xhtml, css, > ECMAScript/DOM, etc. -- no more, no less. I don't feel I > should spend the > money for something I'm not getting anything out of. > > My question to you is this: Do you think it would be wise for > me to finish > the program and get the degree even though I'm not learning > what I want to > be learning, or should I just call it off and focus on web design? > > TIA in advanced for your feedback! > > Gabriel > > ***************************************************** > The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ > See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm > for some hints on posting to the list & getting help > ***************************************************** > > ***************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help *****************************************************
